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Isaiah 21 - God’s Judgment Against Babylon, Edom, and Arabia · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And at the time that I'm
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  recording this, if you are watching the video podcast, you
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  might be like, hey, Brian, you're back in your office, but
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  your office looks a little different.
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  Absolutely. My good friend Rod Dingus
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  repainted my office and I am absolutely in love with how it
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  looks. And my wife was incredibly
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  helpful in helping me like organize my different books and
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  things so that I know, all right, when I need a Bible, here
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  are some of the shelves that I'm going to when I need a book on,
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  you know, some sort of theology thing.
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  I know where those are. There's some leadership ones
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  over there, church revitalization, biographies.
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  And so I have that all set now. And so I'm just incredibly
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  thankful for the hard work and generosity of so many people and
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  helping out with that. So wanted to give a quick shout
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  out right at the beginning, maybe one of these days.
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  I don't know how I do it on on Tabernacle talk, but for the
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  video people, I might do like a little walkthrough of the office
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  at some point, but that's not what we're talking about today.
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  Today we are talking about the book of Isaiah and or I, I could
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  say the book really this would have initially been a scroll.
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  These are a collection of prophecies, of poems, of
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  sermons, of historical conversations and events that
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  took place. And right now we are in Isaiah
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  chapter 21. So we've been walking through,
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  over the past several episodes, God's pronouncement of judgment
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  that is coming on wicked nations who have done wrong to humanity
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  in general, who have done wrong to the southern Kingdom of Judah
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  specifically. And so we've seen God talk about
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  Egypt and Israel. We've seen him talk about Moab
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  and Syria, Babylon, and now in chapter 21 we're coming back to
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  Babylon again, as well as Edom in verse number in verses 11:00
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  and 12:00, and then Arabia in verses 13 through 1617.
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  So this kind of rounds out this section of God's judgments, kind
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  of sort of God's judgments against these surrounding
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  nations. We're going to get back to
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  Jerusalem again, which is what Isaiah started off with in
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  Isaiah chapter one, with God saying you're supposed to be my
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  people, but you are not doing the things that I called my
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  people to do. Instead, you are living in
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  horrible wickedness. And so there needs to be some
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  divine justice that takes place that makes Judah change their
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  ways. And so that's where we're going
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  to come back to next episode. And then there's some judgments
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  against Tyre, which was a coastal, coastal country right
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  next to Israel. And then a specific person,
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  Jebna, sorry, Shebna, that is going to be judged next episode.
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  So just know we've got one more episode of Here's bad things
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  that happen. Here's how you need to change
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  your ways. And then we're going to get into
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  what I've heard some Bible scholars describe as the little
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  apocalypse of Isaiah. And that is think of the Book of
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  Revelation is an apocalypse. It's a revealing, it's kind of
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  the eschatology, last day's end times type thing.
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  And so we're going to look at what Isaiah has to say about the
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  end of this age of human history.
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  And so I'm super excited for that.
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  Let's begin reading in Isaiah chapter 21 a pronouncement
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  concerning the desert by the sea like storms that Passover the
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  Najeev it comes from the desert from the land of terror.
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  A troubling vision is declared to me.
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  The treacherous one acts treacherously and the destroyer
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  destroys advance Elam lay siege you needs.
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  I will put an end to all the groaning.
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  So here there's this prophecy that's coming against Babylon
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  and he says here Elam, that would be one of the the chief
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  cities of the Medo Persian Empire.
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  And then the Medes, which would be a particular people group.
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  You can even hear there in Medo Persian Empire, which would kind
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  of be the dominant world empire after Babylon went off the scene
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  and the Medo Persian Empire hastened that particular them
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  coming off the scene. So here's this prophecy.
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  The Medes and Persians are going to come and to destroy Babylon.
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  And we can read about that certainly in history, and then
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  as well in the book of Daniel. Verse #3 Therefore I am filled
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  with anguish. Pain grips me like the pain of a
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  woman in labor. I'm too perplexed to hear, too
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  dismayed to see. My heart staggers.
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  Horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of
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  hope into sheer terror. Prepare a table and spread out a
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  carpet. Eat and drink.
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  Rise up, you Princess, and oil the Shields.
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  For the Lord has said to me, go post a lookout.
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  Let him report what he sees when he sees riders, pairs of
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  horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels.
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  He must pay close attention. Then the lookout reported, Lord,
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  I stand on the watchtower all day and I stay at my post all
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  night. Look, riders come, horsemen in
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  pairs. And he answered, saying Babylon
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  has fallen, has fallen. All the images of her gods have
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  been shattered on the ground. So they're here is an end to the
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  idolatry of Babylon. My people who have been crushed
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  on the threshing floor. I have declared to you what I
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  have heard from Yahweh of Heaven's armies, the God of
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  Israel. So to Israel, and specifically
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  to the southern Kingdom of Judah that would be brought into exile
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  by Babylon. God himself would judge Babylon
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  for their unique evils that they had committed.
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  Then there's a prophecy against Edom, which again that's the
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  descendants from Esau, Jacob's older brother.
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  And they, though distantly related to Israel, would often
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  commit atrocities in the way that they treated Israel and
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  Judah raiding parties participating in whenever larger
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  groups like the Assyrians or Babylon, Babylonians would come
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  by, Edom would kind of join in and get some of the spoils as
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  well. And so we learned together in
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  the book of Obadiah about God's kind of longer prophecy against
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  them. But this is what we read in
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  verses 11. And 12A pronouncement concerning
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  Duma 1 calls to me from Sayer. Watchmen, what is left of the
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  night. Watchmen, what is left of the
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  night? The watchman said morning has
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  come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask, come
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  back again. So here there is just this long
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  night, a long time of no blessing, no benefit, strictly
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  over and over and over again into the dark is what was
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  awaiting Edom. And if you want a fuller
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  prophecy against the Edomites, you can go look at our episode
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  on Obadiah. Then in verse #13 here is a
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  prophecy, A pronouncement against Arabia.
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  So this would be South of Judah, where you would have today kind
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  of the United Arab Emirates, that kind of area, says a
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  pronouncement concerning Arabia. In the desert brush you will
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  camp for the night, you caravans of Deadonites bring water for
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  the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of
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  Tima meet the refugees with food, for they fled from swords,
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  from the drawn sword, from the bow that is strong, and from the
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  stress of battle. For the Lord said this to me.
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  Within one year as a hired worker counts years, all the
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  glory of Kedar will be gone. The remaining Kedarite Archers
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  will be few in number. For Yahweh, the God of Israel
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  has spoken. So even Arabia with a lot of its
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  nomadic tribes, and they were very well known for, and this
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  even extended a little bit into, you know, the, the time of
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  Muhammad. And after that you had a lot of
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  people that were on horseback and a lot of Archers, especially
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  in the desert, as you can kind of see further and further away
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  from you because it's a lot of, you know, kind of more flat
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  ground. You don't have hills or trees or
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  that kind of stuff to hide behind.
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  Archery was a fantastic way to wage warfare and hear what God
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  says is for these people. Also descendants of Abraham by
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  the way, that there would be a breaking of their former.
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  I would hesitate to say straight up military might because of the
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  way that they would engage in, in warfare would be more like
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  raids rather than straight up, you know, army on army combat.
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  But here God says within one year, all the glory of Kedar
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  will be gone. So what in the world do we do
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  with these portions of Scripture?
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  None of us, I don't believe live in Babylon.
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  None of us live in kind of the area that's called Petra now.
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  And you can, I strongly encourage you actually Google
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  Petra, not the music group, though that would be a fine
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  option as well. But Google the place, Petra, and
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  you can see some of the areas in which the Edomites lived and
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  what's that kind of turned into overtime.
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  Super, super cool architecture, much like some of the places
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  that you would see even in New Mexico and Arizona carved into
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  cliffsides. Super cool.
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  So I encourage you to look at that.
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  But for most of us, we're not in these places.
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  So what do we make of this? Especially because, you know,
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  there's been a lot of the ones, a lot of the countries that we
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  have looked at Isaiah's prophecies against.
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  And there's some, you know, indication of, you know, return,
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  repent, follow and worship God. And certainly we can take all of
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  those things with us to these places.
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  But I think one thing that we are called to notice from these
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  chapters or from this chapter and from these countries is this
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  God is serious about sin. He is serious about punishment
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  for sin, and yet he is incredibly patient.
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  We really struggle to hold both of those things as true because
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  if we are dealing with sin often we would say then that means
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  that I need to go right now and confront this person.
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  Like really just lay down the law on them.
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  Now, God has the benefit of being immortal, which can
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  certainly mean that he can take a little bit longer with his
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  time for justice because justice will happen regardless of
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  whether or not it happens in a, you know, 30 to 70 year time
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  span, which is what we're operating in most of the time.
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  But God is patient. And here Babylon deserved the
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  destruction and the evil that would come upon them.
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  They deserved it 100 and 5200 years before it actually
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  happened. And so one of the things that I
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  would encourage you all to think about, even in your life is God.
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  Do I believe that you will deal rightly, that you will be just
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  in the way that you judge those people in my life that right now
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  I would feel really need your justice or your judgment?
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  And am I willing to allow you to work on your timetable and not
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  on mine? Then for our personal behavior,
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  are you willing to be patient in the way that you deal with
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  others, knowing that God is just and so we don't have to, if you
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  will pre condemn people? God already has condemnation
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  waiting for those that refuse Christ, refuse forgiveness,
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  refuse the free offer of life that is found in Him alone.
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  And so may we, while we have time with people, no matter how
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  flawed or broken they may be, may we extend the offer of
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  forgiveness and love and grace from our God to them.
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  That if they will repent and turn to Jesus, they will not
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  experience condemnation, but instead they would become part
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  of God's family. They would be in dwelt by the
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  Holy Spirit and change transformed, sanctified into the
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  image of Christ that we often times waste our time pre
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  condemning people and if you will, they're condemned by us
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  all of their life. And when we don't show the love
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  of Christ or when we as we're told in Romans 2 and verse four,
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  that the kindness of God is intended to lead us to
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  repentance. And when we don't extend
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  kindness to others, then at the end of their life, yes, they get
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  what is truly coming to them. But I wonder how many times we
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  have failed to show the kindness or love or grace or patience of
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  God to others. So I want to challenge you
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  today. Don't love sin.
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  Like get rid of sin. Get rid of idols in your life.
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  Those things that take the place of God, that cause you to
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  disobey God. The things that you put more
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  trust in than God Himself. Get rid of those.
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  Be patient in how you deal with others.
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  Forgive, show grace, love, all that kind of stuff.
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  And then what was the last thing?
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  Oh, and then know that God will bring justice and so we can bank
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  on that and we don't have to feel like we really have to make
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  someone pay in the here and now because God will make sinners
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  pay one day for everyone that says I'm going to pay myself
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  instead of choosing the payment of Christ that will result in my
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  life and forgiveness and flourishing.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. It was a strong bit of a heavier
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  episode, but I hope that it'd be a challenge to you in your life.
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  Next episode, we're picking back up again with Jerusalem and one
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  particular person who out of all the chapters that we've looked
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  at, he's the one guy named by name that gets a unique prophecy
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  against him from the Lord. And so we're going to see why in
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  the world would this guy have earned it, especially in the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah, and look forward to going over that
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  with you. Thank you.
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  Have a great day.